York seal vital victory over bottom club Huddersfield

Betfred Super League Magic Weekend

Huddersfield (6) 24

Tries: Patolo, Dunford, Russell, Flanagan Goals: Flanagan 4

York (14) 36

Tries: Bennison 2, Hunter 2, Nofoaluma, Williams, Bamforth Goals: Hunter, Bennison 3

York Knights picked up the first victory of Magic Weekend 2026 as they battled past fellow Super League strugglers Huddersfield Giants.

Knights' fifth league win of the season took above second-bottom Toulouse, who face fellow French side Catalans Dragons on Saturday evening.

Two tries each from Cody Hunter and Jon Bennison - as well as one apiece from David Nofoaluma, Nikau Williams and Denive Balmforth - sealed York's second successive win and a vital two points at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Chris Patolo, Zane Dunford, Oli Russell and George Flanagan all scored for the Giants in a match that got away from them early in the second half.

They remain rooted to the foot of the Super League standings, while York moved six points clear of them with the crucial success.

After an attritional opening 10 minutes, a good move on York's left edge saw Knights' Oli Field threaten to go in but he fumbled when looking to offload a killer pass.

Bennison, who was fortunate his error under a high ball did not lead to a Giants try moments earlier, then finished off a flowing move on the York right, cutting inside to crash over and grab the first points of Magic Weekend.

Giants hit back though, as Patolo received a short ball at pace from Mathieu Cozza to dot down to the left of the sticks as Flanagan kicked his side in front with the conversion.

Gorgeous feet from Hunter restored Knights' lead, sidestepping two before reaching out onto the whitewash as he added the extras himself with the boot.

York extended their lead just before the break as veteran wing Nofoaluma received a ball out wide to determinedly blitz over in the left corner in trademark fashion.

Giants got themselves back into the contest within five minutes of the restart as Dunford powered through between two defenders to score on the left edge and Flanagan successfully slotted the extras.

After being denied by a knock-on on the line in the first half, Williams got his name on the scoresheet in the second, holding off two challenges on the left to power over from close range as Bennison kicked the conversion superbly from touch.

Then, a beautiful line break straight through the heart of the Giants defence saw Knights full-back Toa Mata'afa recycle the ball for replacement hooker Balmforth to dart over.

Huddersfield's defence was exposed once more shortly afterwards as Hunter powered over for his second before the Knights had another try chalked off for obstruction as the match quickly got away from the bottom club.

Bennison ran in York's seventh try of the match, profiting from being the extra man to stroll in at the right corner before Russell picked up a late consolation try for Huddersfield next to the sticks with five minutes remaining.

Giants full-back Flanagan pulled another try back, breaking clear on the left to dive over and convert his own score to maintain his 100% record with the boot.

But it ultimately proved in vain as Huddersfield went down to their 10th Super League defeat in a row and extended their winless streak to exactly three months to the day since their last victory, ironically against York.

Huddersfield Giants coach Jim Lenihan told BBC Radio Leeds:

"Disappointing today. I think the last few weeks we've certainly been taking some steps forward with the way we've been playing.

"Certainly after last week, when I thought we played really well, we were looking to keep a bit of that momentum but unfortunately we've had a bit of a dip - a disappointing result for us.

"I thought defensively we were really poor - we crumbled fairly quickly. We have to find more resilience mentally but at the moment, I don't know if it was because it was a big occasion, big stage, but we're professional football players and we're too inconsistent."

York Knights coach Mark Applegarth told BBC Radio York:

"We spoke about going back-to-back [wins] for the first time this year and it was really important we backed that up after the performance at Castleford.

"[A] massive performance from us. I thought we started sloppy and Huddersfield were just rolling us but it was about staying patient, staying composed, and being clinical in certain aspects of the game.

"I'm really pleased for Cody [Hunter]. He's coming up with better decision-making and I'm really happy with how he's doing. Long may it continue.

"We've got back-to-back wins now but we're still nowhere near where we want to be so we've got to keep chasing that improvement and consistency."

Huddersfield: Flanagan; Swift, Zenon, Wrench, Milne; Lolohea, Russell; Rogers, Woolford, Patolo, O'Donnell, Dunford, Cozza.

Interchanges: Geyer, Powell, Rushton, Greenwood.

York: Mata'afa; Bennison, Galeano, Williams, Nofoaluma; Hunter, McShane; Martin, Inman, Va'a, Field, Buchanan, Thompson.

Interchanges: Balmforth, Vaughan, Hudson, Hingano.

Referee: Tara Jones.